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Welcome to Day 16.
A great way to simplify your life is to simply… do less.
Let’s find a way to do that today.
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Our group responses are as follows: Trying to help people & turn around & slap you in the face also called unappreciative people.
We need peace in your life.
If you can’t wash it in the washing machine don’t buy it or own it
Stop buying clothes that need ironing
Attend a regular social occasion
Commit to something you do want to do instead
Learn to say no specially to invites that you have no interest in
Unnecessary meetings
Overextending yourself
I struggled with this one first time round, and am again this time. Even a glass of wine isn’t helping. The best I can come up with is to arrange to only put the telly on for specific shows!
I cleaned out all the fancy kitchen stuff that I have never used or haven’t used in years. YAY
Ooh – this is hard. I’m going to think about this one. I have a LOT of knitting wool / needles / bits and bobs to do with knitting and I very rarely knit anything now. Can I sell it all on ebay? I think I should – and it is the right season for it too….
What I need to do less of is interacting with people I come into casual contact with. Because I’m generally friendly and a good listener, I often find myself chatting with the employees at a store where I frequently shop, other customers, casual acquaintances I bump into, etc. But this behavior has cut into my schedule seriously on more than a couple of occasions, especially when someone starts telling me about their problems or the conversation goes on longer than I intended. The task we did on email in this challenge (Day 17, coming up next!) has helped me with the uber-niceness – and not just in emails 🙂 – but it still remains a challenge. I guess I’ll have to chip away at it a bit at a time while trying to find a good balance. Breaking my habit of automatically asking ‘how are you’ might be a good place to start 🙂
This is a good one, Ellen. Thought I’d FINALLY learned not to automatically say ‘We should catch up’ when I run into someone. And then I did it gain just recently. It’s an ongoing challenge!
Ah, so I’m not alone in this 🙂 So much really does comes down to being mindful…
Like Lisa, I too am finding this quite difficult today. I have already delegated my ironing, so this feels like a cop out to use for today’s challenge and I never hand wash any clothes. The best that I can do is to admit that I hate being called to meetings I didn’t instigate and which either have me on the back foot unprepared or have no relation to my immediate work tasks. I opt to no longer bow to these pressures. Still feels like I’ve not quite honoured this one!
That’s perfectly fine Amanda. Not everything will speak to you. Honor the challenges that do. 🙂
I am giving up working on survey sites that I haven’t seen much benefit from and only clog up my inbox. I realized after reading this assignment that I get anxious because I feel I must do all surveys that come my way. But many are too time consuming with little benefit. I have gone through my inbox and identified the sites that are beneficial to me. I will only work on surveys from them.
That sounds smart Lety! More time and energy for more of what matters.
I am done with gardening. I hate it, I really do. My daughter loves to garden. I have given up the creative part (choosing plants, putting them in pots…etc.) to her. The maintenance (sweeping the courtyard, deadheading…etc.) will be a regular chore put on the family chore chart that all of us share in. Done! I feel sooo good. A weight lifted off my shoulders.
Ah this is wonderful Monica! Exactly the kind of thing that you shouldn’t be doing because it saps way more than just your time. Nice one.
Hmmmmmm… maybe it’s time to get rid of the box of cross stitch patterns and linen and floss, etc., that I’ve held on to for 20-some years, thinking that someday I’ll have time to do that again! No more feeling guilty every time I see that box… 🙂
And if you DO decide/have time to do it again Jan, treat yourself to some fun NEW ones!
I’m having trouble with this one. The one commitment I’d like to give up I just can’t. I recently agreed to it and I’d feel awful giving it up after they took the time to train me. I already don’t hand wash or iron. I’m at a loss on this one.
Maybe this is one to re-visit another time. Trust your instincts on the commitment issue Lisa. 🙂
The task I’m giving up is spending hours and hours one day every weekend preparing food in advance because I don’t have much time to cook during the week, especially since I’m a vegetarian and make a lot of stuff from scratch. Instead I will do this only once every 2-4 weeks. To do this I will have to do less of something else, which I’ve decided is to spend less time at the gym. I am starved when I get home after long workouts but too tired to cook properly so that’s why I try to have homemade dishes I can just reheat during the week. Some of my exercises are rehabilitative for an injury and I can do most of those at home when I’m watching tv (a good time for multi-tasking for me 🙂 ). This will give me more time to cook easy meals during the week. And giving up the weekend cooking sessions will allow me to spend more time on the weekends doing activities that I enjoy, which includes baking, and jam sessions with friends 🙂
Excellent changes Ellen! Nice strategizing. 🙂
I’m giving up 2 things:
1. Mopping. Not really! I bought a Mint. It’s like a robot swiffer. It terrifies the cat, but it cleans my kitchen floor for me. I hate cleaning the kitchen floor!
2. Doing my hair. I never do anything to my hair anyway, but I have a whole bunch of hair products from times when I’ve felt like I needed to make more of an effort, or when I had a fancy occasion to go to and decided I needed something or other to do my hair with. I’m going through all my hair products and keep just the ones I actually use/like.
These are great choices Jen! 🙂
I like your choices, Jen. I never thought about the hair aspect. But you helped me see that was something I gave up also a couple of weeks ago. I have long hair and was wearing it longer than usual and really enjoying the look. But it took more time to wash, dry, and care for. I decided to cut it back to my usual length and it has made life easier. Thanks for the insight 🙂
I am not going to jump the minute my husband or son ask me for something. I have discussed this with them, and asked for their cooperation in lowering their expectations. Both have agreed. If I’m able to live up to this, I will truly feel I have liberated myself from a huge burden.
Sounds like you’ve picked just the right thing for today’s challenge, Marla. And getting their cooperation is a great asset. I’d love to know how this one goes for you…
Old habits die hard ~ their expectations are still there, but I am gently saying “I’ll get to it when I’m finished .” It seems to be working, because right now, after asking me for breakfast, they’re both in the dining room helping themselves to cereal 🙂
I am no longer going to…..keep making excuses for events/nights out etc that I really do not want to attend. Not only will I “just say no thank you”…but I also won’t give an excuse (usually made up-as to why I can’t possible make it!).